Millburn 8-year-old baseball team begins district play 3-0

Liam Grigorian of the Millburn-Short Hills Youth Baseball 8-year-old team swipes third base June 21 during Cal Ripken Northern New Jersey District 12 Tournament play against Springfield in Warren. Covering the bag is Springfield third baseman Adam Zarember. Millburn prevailed 13-3.

Victories by a combined 38-9 score this past weekend have the Millburn-Short Hills Youth Baseball 8-year-old team off to a 3-0 Pool B start in the Cal Ripken Northern New Jersey District 12 Tournament in Warren.

Millburn commenced tournament play June 20 with an 18-6 defeat of South Orange-Maplewood.

Liam Grigorian of Millburn hit a leadoff double in the top of the first.

Starting pitcher Peyton Conn moved Grigorian to third. David Mischel followed with a single, driving in Grigorian with the game's first run.

Mischel reached second when Jack Meyerowitz was hit by a pitch. Bennett Hoffman's two-out single, knocked in Mischel with the inning's final run.

South Orange-Maplewood responded with three runs in the home half of the first.

Millburn went to front to stay in the second.

Two runs scored on a fielding error, allowing Millburn to regain the lead at 4-3. Brett Molka's one-out RBI single to right field made the score 5-3.

Conn struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the inning.

After South Orange-Maplewood's Reid Comeaux reached on an error, a running catch by center fielder Meyerowitz on a drive up the right center field gap by Brendan Dawkins preserved Millburn's 5-3 lead.

Grigorian, following two-out walks in the top of the third to Jack Thielen and Shayne Apple, extended Millburn's advantage to 7-3 with a two-run double over third base.

South Orange-Maplewood tagged Grigorian, on in relief of Conn, for two runs in the home third.

Jared Carlucci reached on a leadoff infield single. Carlucci stole second and scored when Silas Epstein reached on a two-base error. Epstein stole third and scored on Eric Donaty's groundout to second.

Millburn plated a run in the fourth.

Meyerowitz reached on a two-out infield single, stole second and third, and scored on Hoffman's RBI single.

Grigorian pitched a scoreless bottom of the fourth, fanning two in the process.

Each team scored in the fifth.

Grigorian drew a two-out walk and scored on Conn's triple over the head of the left fielder. An errant throw allowed Conn to score.

South Orange-Maplewood scored a run in the bottom of the fourth on a steal of home by Denaty.

Millburn erupted for eight runs in the top of the sixth.

The rally included a leadoff double by Mischel, a three-run double by Molka, two singles by Meyerowitz, a single by Hoffman and two walks.